


NCIS: META 102 - Doppelganger

by briwd



Series: NCIS: META [2]
Category: DC Comics, DC Universe, NCIS
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-09-27
Updated: 2014-05-08
Packaged: 2017-12-27 17:59:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/981930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/briwd/pseuds/briwd
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gibbs and Ziva learn more about the world of Earth I - and meet both Agent Caitlin Todd and DIrector Jenny Shepard. They also end up tagging along with Kate's team on a case, finding themselves in a wilder world than they dreamed of, a world full of super powered threats met head on by superpowered heroes and agents.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Earth I  
  
As Director of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, Jenny Shepard was used to working some long and intense days.  
  
Today had already brought with it a murder investigation of a Naval Intelligence officer who was in reality a spy, and the related news that his activities brought about possibly the biggest intelligence breach in American history.   
  
Now came the news that two agents from an NCIS from a parallel world - Earth Prime - were on their way to her NCIS. To her office.  
  
Today.  
  
And these weren't just any agents.  
  
They were Leroy Jethro Gibbs and Ziva David.   
  
Gibbs ran the Washington, D.C. field office's Major Case Response Team on his world, and Ziva was one of his agents and valued team members, alive and well on their own world.  
  
And, long dead on Jenny's own world.  
  
Jenny, finishing up her bourbon, decided against another drink. While she thought a stiff drink would help her handle what Earth Prime's Leon Vance had thrown at her, she wasn't an alcoholic.  
  
Part of being the director of a federal agency meant being able to handle difficult matters on the fly and make hard decisions - including how to introduce them to agent Caitlin Todd, if at all.  
  
Jenny knew the basic back story of Kate's counterpart, including how she died. Kate Prime was as depowered as anyone else on her world - and because of it, the bullet from Ari Haswari's rifle powered through her skull on that rooftop in Norfolk, killing her instantly.  
  
Right in front of Jethro and Tony DiNozzo.  
  
It led Jethro to a frantic search to find Ari, and eventually, to Ziva David killing Ari in Gibbs' basement.  
  
The only memorial was in the hearts of the men and women Kate Todd left behind - and whatever memorial Ziva left to her half-brother.   
  
There was no boat, no statues, no parades honoring the dead, no television specials commemorating her life.   
  
In that respect, she figured Gibbs and his team might feel cheated; even the Ziva she knew, the one who died, was considered a martyr, of sorts, in Israel, and raised to near legendary status within Mossad, for her role in attempting to stop the monster Ari Haswari before he could start his brief reign of terror.  
  
Jenny was going to have to deal not only with Gibbs and Ziva, but Kate, who here was alive and well.  
  
Not only had she survived being shot - twice! - on that damned rooftop, she was still with NCIS, having risen to be Special Agent in Charge of her own Major Case Response Team.  
  
Which, as it were, happened to be on its way to the Navy Yard, from Miami, to pick her up for a case in Gotham City.  
  
Jenny wondered what Gibbs and Ziva would think of the Kate she had come to know: not just the agent, but the celebrity, a role model, one of the public faces of NCIS and an American hero. The woman who survived only because she had the metagene, which gave her an aura, acting as an invisible shield, that kicked in just in time to block Ari's bullets.  
  
What would Kate, in turn, think of Gibbs? She knew her own Gibbs as a good man, deep down, who merely acted like a hardass bastard. He had told Kate the most important parts of his backstory after their teammates died - most notably telling her about his first wife, Shannon, and their daughter, Kelly, and their murder at the hands of Pablo Hernandez, and confessing to having killed Hernandez himself in revenge.  
  
Kate had to get the rest of Gibbs' backstory second hand, after his death. Some of it she heard from Jenny herself, much of it from men like Mike Franks, Jackson Gibbs and Tobias Fornell.   
  
Of course, there was the incident with Pablo Hernandez's children - the daughter who ran the Reynosa cartel, and her collaborator brother who imbedded himself in the Mexican government - who tried to extract a measure of revenge from Kate's own team.  
  
Jenny had to admit some curiosity about what kind of man this Gibbs had become, and if he had mellowed any since his own Kate Todd, and Ari Haswari, had died.  
  
Jenny then remembered that Ziva David was coming over from the other world as well.  
  
What would Kate think of her? What would anyone else think of her?  
  
How would she react to a world, in which her own half-brother was not merely a rogue Mossad officer who killed a federal agent, but a supervillain in his own right, responsible for the deaths of thousands of Americans?  
  
And what in the world was Jenny to do with Gibbs and Ziva once they arrived?  
  
Give them the tour of the building? Stick them in MTAC and make them watch a movie, as if they were visiting some museum?   
  
Or...have them observe Agent Borin's team?  
  
Or...dare she think it...have them travel with Kate's team?  
  
Jenny looked at the bar; had that one shot of bourbon been a little too much this morning?  
  
Or did she need another shot?  
  
Not once had Jenny considered the potential reactions of Gibbs and Ziva to meeting Jenny herself.  
  
Nor, had she thought about the billboard in front of the Pentagon Centre.  
  
Pentagon Centre, Virginia  
  
"Mr. Gibbs, I'll be happy to drive you to the Navy Yard."  
  
Frank, a short, stocky middle-aged man dressed as mall security, was in reality an agent with the FBI, and would be Gibbs' and Ziva's driver while they were on Earth I.  
  
Gibbs initially wanted to drive the rental, but relented after some discussion, namely that the keys to the Honda Accord were more advanced - and complex - than he or Ziva were used to. To save time, Frank would drive them to the Navy Yard.  
  
As the Accord pulled out of the parking lot, Frank asked his guests if they wanted to stop somewhere for coffee, or lunch. They came to the first red light, and while they waited Ziva and Gibbs looked at their surroundings, trying to determine similarities and differences between here and back home on Earth Prime.  
  
Before the light turned green, Gibbs and Ziva spotted the billboard.  
  
Like most other billboards across the United States, the large billboard promoting an upcoming blockbuster film was virtual - it could change on demand, advertising everything from movies to soda pop to public service announcements.   
  
This one had the total attention of Gibbs and Ziva.  
  
It showed a young woman, dressed like a superhero, in a red, white and blue spandex outfit, standing against a backdrop of a city skyline and an American flag.  
  
The logo, below, read TEAM KATE, and the writing below it was consistent with what one might see promoting actors, directors, and an upcoming date for a movie.  
  
The actress, according to the billboard, was Alyson Hannigan.   
  
But the attractive, dark-haired woman on the billboard looked like someone else Gibbs once knew.  
  
Ziva had the sense to snap a picture of the billboard before the light changed.   
  
"How good are the Nationals over there? Strasburg threw a no-hitter Wednesday against the Meteors. That put them 9 1/2 games up in the East. They start a home stand tomorrow night against the Expos. I can get you tickets if you're going to be around awhile..."  
  
While Frank talked on and on, Gibbs and Ziva were thinking only about the billboard.   
  
"Ziva? You did snap a picture, right?"  
  
"I did...I am looking at it now. I can make out two names: Alyson Hannigan and Gillian Anderson."  
  
That got Frank's attention. "Oh yeah! You saw the billboard. Team Kate. That's a movie that's coming out next summer--"  
  
"A movie?" Gibbs asked, as Ziva handed him the phone. "About whom?"  
  
"Kate Todd."  
  
At that instant, a thousand images flashed through Gibbs' mind.  
  
The first was meeting a Secret Service agent named Kate Todd aboard Air Force One, during a case.  
  
The last was seeing her murdered on a rooftop, the blood from her skull splattering on Tony DiNozzo's face.  
  
"...used to be a superhero," Frank continued, "now with NCIS..."  
  
Ziva only knew her through the recollections of Gibbs and her teammates, particularly Abby Sciuto. She had met Kate's sister, Dr. Rachel Cranston.  
  
She glanced over at Gibbs, who handed her back the smartphone.  
  
"Gibbs," she whispered. "Is that her?"  
  
"I think it is," was all Gibbs could say.   
  
"You guys talking about Kate Todd?" Frank asked, as he made a turn into D.C. proper.  
  
"Do you know Agent Todd?" Ziva asked him.  
  
"Not personally, but I know about her, everyone does," Frank answered. "She's an agent. Superhero. Used to be with the JLA, the funny one not the Big Seven. That billboard you snapped a picture of? Upcoming movie. You ever hear of her?"  
  
Ziva looked at Gibbs.  
  
"Yeah. You could say that," Gibbs said to Frank.  
  
Gibbs recollected meeting a young woman, with the Secret Service, on Air Force One while investigating a dead Naval Commander. Of hiring her after she resigned from the Secret Service, and seeing her progress towards becoming a top-flight NCIS agent.  
  
Before Ari shot her to death.  
  
Meanwhile, Ziva David sat in the back, staring at the picture.   
  
"...kids love her. My daughter met her once, got her autograph. Has a Kate doll in her bedroom--"  
  
"Ziva, let me see that phone again."  
  
Ziva handed the phone to Gibbs, who looked at the picture for two minutes without saying a word.  
  
Finally, he spoke. "It's her," Gibbs said softly. "She survived...Ziva, she survived."  
  
"Yes, she did," Ziva said back, softly.  
  
"Frank, how close are we to NCIS?" Gibbs.  
  
"Five minutes," Frank said.   
  
"Frank, can you call ahead and ask where Agent Todd is?" Gibbs.  
  
"Sure," Frank said, as he punched a button on his dashboard.   
  
"Before you call, answer me one other question: is Leon Vance the director of NCIS here?"  
  
Frank thought for a moment. "No, it's not a he, it's a she...hold on...name's coming to me...Shepard. Jenny Shepard."  
  
Gibbs looked back at Ziva, who went wide-eyed at that revelation.  
  
"Jenny Shepard is the director of NCIS," Gibbs stated. "That's what you're saying."  
  
"Yes sir," Frank said. "Now you want me to make that phone call?"  
  
Gibbs nodded. "Whomever you talk to, make it clear that I want to speak with Director Shepard and Agent Todd if they're both around."

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Earth I**

_Thanks, Leon._

Jenny Shepard, the Director of NCIS on Earth I, muttered that phrase to herself for what seemed to her like the hundredth time in the past half-hour.

Leon, the Director of NCIS on Earth-Prime, had developed a good working relationship with Shepard. Whatever her counterpart had done on his world, Jenny understood to have been irrelevant to Vance as far as she herself was concerned.

Their rapport had never been tested - until today.

On a day in which their agencies were helping in an investigation of the largest breach in their countries' histories, Vance decided to send two of his best agents on a visit.

And, owning to Murphy's Law or whatever multiversal rule governed such things, Vance sent Leroy Jethro Gibbs and Ziva David.

Two people, dead in Jenny's world, and alive in their own.

Ziva, in both worlds, was the half-sister of Ari Haswari and an officer of the Israeli Mossad agency.

Gibbs, in both worlds, was a former Marine, and an NCIS agent who led the Washington Major Case Response Team - and one-time team partner of Jenny's.

In Jenny's world, Ziva tried to stop Ari before he could continue his reign of terror and ended up dead by his hand. And Gibbs died a hero's death, disarming a nuclear bomb Haswari intended to destroy Washington, suffering fatal ricin poisoning in the process.

All of that's going to sound like something out of a comic book, Jenny thought. God only knows how I'm going to explain all that to them.

That forced another question on Jenny: what to do with Special Agent Caitlin Todd, who was here at NCIS.

The Kate Todd that this Jenny knew was a respected agent and bonafide American hero, owing to her actions in 2005 while trying to stop Ari and afterwards as a member of the Justice League, and later as an active NCIS agent.

Kate's Earth-Prime counterpart, on the other hand, was long dead.

Both Kates shared the same history until May 24, 2005.

Kate-Prime didn't have the metagene and an aura to protect her from Haswari's rifle, and lost her life on that rooftop in Norfolk, Virginia.

From what Vance had told Jenny, Gibbs was extremely despondent and shaken up, his team shaken to the core. But their Haswari had only murdered a handful of people (and tried to murder two more members of Gibbs' team), and was shot to death by Ziva in Gibbs' basement.

Ziva took Kate's place, and as hurt as the team was about Kate's death, they all eventually moved on.

Or so they thought.

Vance told Jenny that Kate's sister, Dr. Rachel Cranston, did a psychological evaluation a year and a half before that brought back memories and - though none of them would admit to it - may have reopened some old wounds.

That's on top of whatever wounds were left over from their former Director, Jenny Shepard, who had been dead for just over four years.

By Leon's account, Gibbs' team grew fairly close to their own Jenny, who served nearly three years as director before she was killed.

And now, Jenny would have to deal with whatever consequences Gibbs and Ziva would encounter, not just with seeing Kate, but seeing herself.

 _Dammit, Leon,_  Jenny thought.  _What in_ hell _were you thinking?_

Jenny's thoughts were interrupted by her secretary's phone call.

"Ms. Shepard, security on the main floor says your guests have come through the checkpoint," said Tanya, a young woman who had just started in her new position that week.

"Thank you, Tanya," Jenny replied. "Tell security to escort them up to my office."

"Yes, ma'am," Tanya said.

Jenny ended that call, and placed another call, down to the third-floor bullpen of the current Washington field office's Major Case Response Team.

The person who picked up was its team leader, Abigail Borin.

"Borin?"

"Director. We're  _busy_."

"I  _know_. You need to stay here for a few minutes, and tell Agent Todd I want her up here now."

"...Jenny, what's going on  _now_? We've got leads that we need to follow-"

"I understand, Abigail, but something has come up, literally last-second. I have two guests coming to my office whom you and everyone else who sees them will instantly recognize."

" _What_?" Borin asked, annoyed.  _I don't have time for your games, Jenny,_  thought Borin.

"I need your team to  _stay_  where it is, at least until these guests show up and are introduced," Jenny told her. "Afterwards, I promise you'll be free to go."

Jenny heard Borin take a breath of exasperation, then tell Kate to "get to Jenny's office now" and her agents to wait.

"Who or what am I  _waiting_  for?" Borin said. "Barack and Michelle Obama?"

"Security escorting two VIPs to my office," Jenny said. "As I said, you'll know why when you see them, in a few minutes."

" _Now_?" Borin said, clearly exasperated.

"At least I'm not making you wait all  _day_ ," Jenny replied, then ended the call.

Kate's team was making its way up the eastern seaboard, to Washington from its most recent case in Miami.

The META Team, as customary, wasn't traveling by private nor civilian jet, nor by military aircraft.

Its transportation was one of the most advanced aircraft used anywhere on this world: a U.S. Army Spencer hovercraft, powered by a hybrid hydrogen/petrol engine.

In service for three years, the craft allowed the team to travel up to 200 miles an hour, equipped to allow the META team to work cases on the road and provide them living quarters wherever they happened to be. The craft had work spaces, functional forensics and medical facilities, a mini-kitchen, showers and sleeping quarters.

The Spencer craft wasn't the Ritz-Carlton, but it would more than do for the team's purposes. It was comparable to the NCIS Red Team's "Laverne and Shirley" double-trailer trucks, the difference being that the Spencer could fly, while the Red Team was limited to whatever highways and roads could handle the trucks.

Four of the six current team members were on board.

The pilot, Special Agent Marcus Stewart; his co-pilot, Special Agent Sarah Dunn; acting team leader in Miami (and anytime in Kate's absence), Senior Agent Tim Kerry; and Forensics Specialist Katie Yates, about to be promoted to Probationary Field Agent.

Kate and the team's medical examiner and physician, Noah Rooney, were still at NCIS headquarters, waiting for the Spencer to arrive.

Earth I's Washington MCRT had made some progress on the Christopher Yu case: mainly, the origin of the speedboat the alleged shooter - Tommy Monaghan - used during the murder, and identification of a witness who saw the shooter.

Borin was itching to get herself and her team back out in the field.

 _If only Jenny hadn't ordered us to stay here,_ she thought, and wondered what Leroy Jethro Gibbs may have said, or done, if he were still alive and in her shoes.

 _He'd probably have hung up and put his team on the elevator,_ she thought.  _Like I should have._

A Honda Accord pulled into the visitor's lot of NCIS headquarters in the Navy Yard.

Two men and one woman stepped out.

One of the men - Frank, a CIA agent - hadn't stopped talking since they left the security office at the Pentagon Centre.

Jethro Gibbs and Ziva David got out of the car, looking around and trying to figure out what was similar and what was different.

"Keep looking Ziva," Gibbs whispered. "Everything that's different, no matter how small, how subtle."

"The building itself looks the same as..." Ziva trailed off, unsure of how to phrase what she wanted to say.

"Back home?"

"If you wish to call it that."

"Here we are, folks," Frank said, as the three stepped inside the main doors. "NCIS. It should look familiar, like home. It does to me. You know, I've never been to your world, but I've seen pictures and it looks a lot like here. White House, Capitol Building, Pentagon-oh look, here's security."

Two guards made their way to the trio; Gibbs and Ziva stood, patiently, and shook Frank's hand.

" I guess that means I'll be leaving now, they'll take you the rest of the way. It was great to meet you both, Mr. Gibbs, Ms.  _Day_ -vid, and, well, I'm gonna get outta here now and remember if you want Nationals tickets, call me at the Pentagon Centre, we'll get you in..."

Frank backed out the front doors, still going on and on, to two strangers he eyeballed after he got outside.

Inside, Gibbs and Ziva looked around at the lobby, then presented their IDs and badges to the both guards. In turn, they were given electronic guest badges to wear, though there was no clip to attach to their shirts.

One of the guards, Dwayne - a large, African-American man - smiled and put the badge on their chests below the shoulder. "Just like one of those old Post-It notes," he said. "Now, Mister Leroy Jethro Gibbs, and Miss  _Zeye_ -vah-"

" _Zee_ -vah Dah- _veed_ ," Ziva David said. "So you know how to properly pronounce my name."

Though neither said anything, Gibbs and Ziva did recognize Dwayne, as an NCIS security guard back on their own world.

"My apologies, Ms. Dah- _veed_ ," said the other security guard, Catherine, a blonde, muscular woman whom neither she nor Gibbs seemed to recognize. "The Director wants us to escort you to her office, so if you'll come with us."

"A moment," Gibbs said, holding an envelope and a package. "I asked the driver, Frank, to send a message here, that I wanted to speak specifically with Director Shepard and with Agent Todd-"

"And she - Director Shepard -  _got_  that message," Catherine said. "We're taking you there  _now_."

With that, Gibbs and Ziva joined Dwayne and Catherine on the elevator, not knowing what to expect when it reached the third floor.

Kate was in shock.

Jenny had tried to explain everything about Vance; his decision to send over his own Gibbs and Ziva; and Jenny's own decision to have Kate meet them, all in a two-minute span, then played the 'I'm the boss' card to make sure Kate didn't try to sneak out.

"So the picture on that tablet is  _real_...and  _they're_  on it?" Kate said, as she and Jenny looked at the group picture found on the tablet with Yu's body earlier that morning.

"Yes," Jenny said. "All of those people, except for the spy from Earth III, are alive. And Gibbs, and Ziva, are on their way up."

"You didn't make that call?"

"I did  _not_. Their director. Leon Vance.  _He_  made the call."

"Why...what on earth was he  _thinking_?"

"I'm  _still_  asking myself that," Jenny said. "Maybe it was how to manage his Gibbs, who apparently was planning to snoop around. Leon thought we could manage him..."

"You  _don't_  manage  _Gibbs_."

"I know that far better than you do, Kate."

"So how are you going to manage  _this_?"

"Let's get them up here first."

Dwayne and Catherine stepped off the elevator on to the third floor, Gibbs and Ziva following right behind, and the foursome stopped momentarily.

To Gibbs and Ziva, it looked just like their own workplace, down to the repairs and painting going on across the floor.

"Did you have a bombing here a few months ago?" Gibbs asked Catherine.

"Yes," she said. "Harper Dearing. Took out a lot of the building and nearly killed Director Shepard doing it. We lost...too many, including my fiancee. She worked in Legal."

"We are sorry for your loss," Ziva said softly. "He bombed our building, too, where Gibbs and I are from. It was hard on us, as well."

"Thank you," she said. "They brought in grief counselors, and that helped. Chris would have wanted me to go on and not feel sorry for myself, but I miss her, every day."

Ziva noted the look in Gibbs' eyes. Was he thinking of Shannon and Kelly? And, perhaps, of Kate and Jenny and Mike Franks and everyone else he's lost over the years?

"We have lost loved ones too, Catherine," Ziva said, putting a hand on the guard's arm to comfort her. "You look like a strong person. You will survive. That is what she should have wanted."

"Guys," Dwayne said. "I'm sorry. But the Director is expecting you. We should take you to her."

The foursome walked from the elevator, past the bullpen. Catherine stopped, but Dwayne motioned for her - and Gibbs and Ziva - to move along.

"Director Shepard says all your questions will be answered upstairs," he told them, as they climbed up the stairs.

Gibbs and Ziva couldn't help but glance at the bullpen, which was once familiar and different.

"Gibbs," Ziva said, "is that  _Borin_ -"

"Agent Gibbs, Agent David," Dwayne said, politely but firmly. "Please. The Director is waiting for you."

While Borin was on the phone with a Metro detective, all four of Borin's agents looked on in astonishment.

"Son of a bitch," Brent Langer said.

Tayna, Jenny's current office secretary, met the four in Jenny's waiting room. The two guards left, and Gibbs and Ziva sat down.

"The Director will see you now," she said after a minute, and went to open the door to Jenny's office.

Gibbs and Ziva walked in, thinking they were ready for anything.

But when they saw Jenny Shepard and Kate Todd, all they could do is stare.

Shock. Joy. Confusion.

"Kate? Jenny?" Gibbs finally said.

"Jethro, Ziva," Jenny replied. "Welcome."


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gibbs and Ziva meet Jenny and Kate; Gibbs' team confronts Vance about crossing over; Kate's top two agents (including her husband) discuss Gibbs/Ziva and the Yu case.

**Gotham City, New Troy**   
**A cave, somewhere in the suburbs**

_"ROCK 106, the Rock of Gotham wrapping up a one-hundred-and-six minute commercial free marathon. One of the hottest new rock bands in America, straight from Gotham itself, The Dark, will begin its North American tour with stops this week in Opal City, Charleston, Atlanta, Nashville, Louisville and Memphis-"_

-beep-

_"-this is WGUU, NPR for Gotham. Coming up next on Fresh Air: Terri Gross interviews Walter Dross, the author of The 14th State, a history of the state of New Troy, focusing on-"_

-beep-

_"-get your Zenith holovision screen TODAY at Best Guys, and we'll throw in a brand new HoloVid player with DVD and Blu-Ray converter for ONLY $19.99! This deal ends Sunday night, so get to your Gotham City and Bludhaven-area Best Guys stores NOW-"_

-beep-

_"-the Guardsmen finally signed their first-round draft pick, former UConn forward Adrian Prentiss to a three-year, $20 million contract; and spokespersons for Gotham billionnaire Bruce Wayne confirmed he has purchased 20 percent of Gotham City FC, boosting the MLS team's efforts to stay here and not be sold to an unnamed Orlando-area investor hoping to move the club there. That's sports. Coming up, traffic and-"_

The driver turned off his car's audio player, focused not on the fall countryside but on getting to his 'office' as soon as possible.

The dark, armored vehicle quickly made its way through the hidden back roads of the suburban Gotham forest, speeding towards its subterranean destination.

Although the car's camoflague technology allowed it to become virtually invisible, its driver was a little nervous about being on the open road in daylight. It wasn't that his tech was failing him; he just preferred the night, and his ability to hide much better in dark than in day.

The vehicle reached the entrance to the expansive cave underneath Bruce Wayne's estate, and two minutes later it reached its parking spot, right next to an operations center that rivaled anything the Justice League and federal agencies like NCIS had.

The driver stepped out, fully clad in the suit he wore when working as the Batman.

Bruce Wayne ripped off his mask, threw it into one of the chairs in front of the massive screen, and, without a word, took a cup of coffee from his butler, Alfred Pennyworth, and drank it down without a pause.

Then he put the cup down back on the tray Alfred was holding, and looked at his long-time ally and friend.

"Congratulations on your minority purchase into the local football club, Master Bruce," Alfred said, pouring Bruce another cup of black coffee. "Is one large cup not sufficient for you today?"

"It's soccer, not football, my English friend, and I need my energy," Bruce replied as he sat down in his chair in front of the screen. "You have enough for another cup?"

"Master Bruce, I would perhaps recommend you abstain from so much caffeine and cut back on your activities, and spend some lengthy time resting," Alfred said, placing a ham sandwich and apple on a plate in front of the Dark Knight. "The recent rejuvenative effects of the Lazarus Pit on your body do not render proper sleep unnecessary."

Bruce took a bite of the sandwich and apple, drank down the entirely of the second cup of coffee, and took a couple of drinks out of the third.

"Hope you brewed another pot of coffee, Alfred," Bruce said, glancing at Alfred before turning his attention to some classified NCIS reports on the screen.

"As always, Master Bruce," Alfred sighed. "Will you be going out again at sunset?"

"Tim, Helena, Kate and Damian can patrol the city this evening," Bruce said, causing his butler to raise an eyebrow. "I have other business to attend to."

"Such as?" replied Alfred, as he prepared the instant coffee maker in the ops center to brew two more pots.

"Tim's requested to meet Danny," Bruce said.

"Master Tim?" said Alfred, thinking of one of Bruce's wards, Tim Drake, also a former Robin, currently the Red Robin, and a member of the Teen Titans.

"Tim Kerry."

"Ah, Major Kerry, the agent at NCIS."

"Yes," Bruce replied. "He's checking on a dead Naval Intelligence officer who's a double agent. Working for the Crime Syndicate. Major Steel and I are going to talk shop."

"Is the Syndicate here on our world?"

"Not as far as we know," Bruce answered. "I'm trying to find out what this double agent learned."

"And what the federal agencies are doing in response," Alfred said; Bruce barely nodded, while looking over a NCIS document on two agents who crossed over onto his and Alfred's own Earth.

"Other business to address, sir?" Alfred asked, noticing the document on the screen.

"You could say that."

"If only you and the League could work openly with Major Kerry and his contemporaries-"

"Sometimes meeting up over a cup of coffee works better," Bruce said, standing up from his chair, looking over towards the apparel/costume section of the vast Batcave complex. "Is my costume ready?"

"As always, sir," Alfred said. "'Danny''s disguise is ready for your use. And I mended the clothing you tore during your last appearance as Matches Malone."

"Good," Bruce replied, smiling. "Because Malone's got another appearance to make late tonight, after Danny goes back to the Bowery."

**Washington, Navy Yard**   
**NCIS Headquarters, Director Shepard's office**

Neither Leroy Jethro Gibbs nor Ziva David said a word, instead staring at the two local women in the room.

A million images seemed to race through Gibbs's mind, two years compressed into instants, starting with a meeting aboard Air Force One and ending with a murder on a rooftop; a vengeful hunt, and a funeral. And again, several years compressed into instants, from work and pleasure in Paris, through numerous cases at NCIS, to a torn-up diner in the middle of nowhere.

Ziva knew only one of the women, by reputation. The other woman brought back instants of memories in Ziva's mind, though only the final memory - seeing the red-haired director of NCIS dead in the diner - stuck.

And all Kate could think of was a million images of her own, from Air Force One, through the good times with a team she lost years before, cumulating with seeing the Gibbs she knew dead in his basement.

"Ziva? Gibbs?... _Ziva_!  _Gibbs_!"

Gibbs pulled himself out of his daze, slightly embarassed and a little peeved at having lost his concentration.

"Director," he said. "Leroy Jethro Gibbs, Special Agent, NCIS. This is Special Agent Ziva David."

"And this is Special Agent Caitlin Todd," Jenny Shepard replied. "It's good to meet your acquaintances."

Kate and Jenny both shook hands with Gibbs and Ziva, as Kate's mind raced through a thousand scenes.

_**Metropolis, 2005** _

_The team hid behind the famous Superman statue, with air raid sirens blaring all over the city and Ari Haswari somewhere nearby._

_"Kate. I don't know how long I can do this," Gibbs said, collapsing in a heap._

_"What?" Kate shouted, incredulously._

_"My gut. Ari's taken so many people already. Tony. McGee. Ducky. Palmer, Morrow. Abby. We're next-"_

_Kate activated her aura, grabbed her boss by his shoulders, and looked him straight in the eyes._

_"LEROY JETHRO GIBBS!...YOU LISTEN!...I don't CARE what your gut tells you! I don't give a DAMN that you're depressed! I DO give a DAMN that you stay ALIVE...you've got three men and a woman - ME - who want this bastard as much as you do! And there are OTHERS depending on us to find him! When we nail this guy...WHEN...you'll get to go back down to your basement and feel sorry for yourself and get drunk and work on that boat. Until then...we hunt this bastard. We hunt him DOWN. Now...we need a leader. That's YOU. Now go. GO!"_

_Kate glared at Gibbs, trying to will a response out of him. Moments later, he smirked._

_"You know, Kate...you got a real pair of balls, dontcha?"_

_"Hey. I told you that first time...I grow what I need."_

Kate felt a heavy tapping on her shoulder, from her director.

"Agent Todd,  _hello_ ," Jenny said, smiling.

"Sorry," Kate replied. "I'm...I'm just-"

"Overwhelmed?" Gibbs said. "Think Ziva and I feel the same way."

"Well, Agent Gibbs...or can I call you Jethro?" Jenny said.

"Works for me... _Jenny_ ," Gibbs said.

"Fair enough, Jethro...and Ziva," Jenny replied. "You're the ones who asked to be here, anyway. Is  _this_  what you expected?"

Gibbs and Ziva looked at one another, and Gibbs nodded for Ziva to speak.

"I have to admit, director, that I was skeptical about...this," Ziva told her and Kate. "And I  _still_  am."

"Understandable," Kate replied. "I was too, when they told me about other worlds and universes. Like something out of Star Trek, or science fiction...Gibbs?"

"That's what Ziva and I are here to check out," Gibbs said, "along with a connection to a case we're working."

"You must be referring to Christopher Yu," Jenny said, thinking that focusing on the Yu case was the best thing to do at present. She walked back to her terminal, tapped on its screen, and several virtual files appeared instantaneously in front of Gibbs and Ziva.

Ziva jumped, while Gibbs barely flinched.

"What on earth...what  _ARE_  those things?" Ziva half-shouted, eyeing the virtual files hanging in mid-air.

"Case reports, files, photos related to the Yu case, that we're working on from our end," Jenny replied.

"They don't bite," Kate said, gently pushing a photo of Yu and a hastily-written NSA report towards Ziva.

"Yeah," Gibbs said, looking at other files hanging in the air, including a note written by an Eleanor Bishop from the National Security Agency. "From what my director said, seems like we're investigating the same guy. You have a lead on him?"

"We have him," Jenny said, as Gibbs and Ziva's eyebrows rose in surprise. "He's dead...he was found early this morning near the Potomac, dead from a sniper shot. The body is in our morgue...would you like to see him."

"Yeah," Gibbs said.

"Perhaps afterwards, we could come back up here, debrief, and catch up," Jenny said.

"If you say so," Gibbs said, nodding to Ziva. "Your case, your lead."

Downstairs, Abigail Borin's team was antsy, and Borin had enough of waiting around.

"We've got a job to do," she said, and sent her four agents out to pursue various leads on the Yu shooting.

Borin herself stayed behind, curious as to what was going on in the director's office.

**Eastern Virginia**

The META team's shuttle was just north of Fredericksburg, following Interstate 95 into D.C., albeit at 5,000 feet. The three men and two women aboard were preparing for final approach to Washington, and NCIS headquarters.

Special Agent Marcus Stewart - the pilot - began his final pre-landing checks; the man next to him, Special Agent Tim Kerry, read through various reports and texts.

"Any update on that Yu thing?" Stewart asked.

"Just autopsy stuff," Kerry replied. "Borin's team is still investigating. But...believe it or not...Kate just texted me something that might trump it."

"How do you trump a breach in national security?" Stewart asked.

"Here's the text: 'am in Jenny's office. Gibbs and Ziva David's counterparts crossed over. Am with them now.'"

It took a moment for Stewart to figure out who Kerry was talking about. "THAT Gibbs?"

"The one and only," Kerry replied. "And Haswari's half-sister."

"The one who died trying to stop him."

"Her counterpart, and his, from a parallel earth," Kerry said.

"We're coming up on Quantico, Tim," Stewart said. "Everyone back there - strap in. Navy Yard in five...Tim, parallel earth?"

"Earth Prime," Kerry replied. "The world without superheroes - in real life. They are in the comics and cartoons, though. That's where these two are from."

"How'd they cross over?"

"Kate didn't say but I'm guessing through the portal below the Pentagon Centre. They would have had to have government clearance. Feds and the heroes are the only two groups with authorization to cross dimensions."

"So we've got that waiting for us when we get there," Stewart said as the shuttle passed over Woodbridge.

"Looks like it."

"You and Kate ever talk about that?"

"Talk about what?"

"Doppelgangers. Alternate realities. Like Earth II. Your own counterpart. One that wasn't a Black Lantern zombie or Syndicate agent."

"Oh yeah," Kerry replied. "Once. Did her old team, our current team, have counterparts. Were they our age, or younger, or older like the Justice Society. Not something we really dwelt on any. She didn't want to think her old team was replacable."

Stewart mulled that for a few moments. "Makes sense," Stewart said. "Something happened to my brother or family, to any of our team, I wouldn't want to think you could find another counterpart from, Earth 2012 and plug them in...coming up on D.C...how you think she'll handle it."

"The other Gibbs?...she still hasn't quite gotten over Gibbs' death and that team. It affected her more than she thought it would. She's pretty resilient. What I would want to know is if Gibbs is the only counterpart."

"You think the rest of his team is alive?"

"Have to consider it. I also wonder if SHE has a counterpart over there."

"And is she alive or not."

That cut close to Tim Kerry. No one on Earth Prime - save for the would-be hero Ultraa - had superpowers. That implied that if its Kate was on the rooftop in Norfolk and its Ari Haswari targeted her-

"I know, Marcus," Tim mused. "Her counterpart wouldn't have survived the shot."

The shuttle passed the Pentagon. "Navy Yard, this is META One, over," Stewart said after radioing the complex.

"META One, this is Navy Yard Control. We have you on radar. You're authorized to land at Hover Space Four, right above the NCIS building. See you in a few."

"Roger that, Control," Stewart said, before looking at the team's second-in-command, and husband of team leader Kate Todd. "You think this is gonna mess with her?"

"Don't know if I'd say that, Marcus," Kerry replied, "but I'd say she could use our support."

**Earth Prime**   
**Navy Yard, NCIS**   
**Abby Sciuto's lab**

"We ARE going to see them, right, Leon?"

Abby Sciuto stared pleadingly at Director Leon Vance, as if she was trying to will him to allow her and the rest of Gibbs' team to go to the portal and cross over to Earth I.

"Interdimensional travel isn't that simple, Abby," Leon said. "For a number of reasons, amongst them criminals on both sides trying to find portals into other dimensions, the government has chosen to put a lid on public knowledge of the existence of these other worlds. Travel between worlds, even by government and military officials, is highly regulated and everything has to be authorized-"

"Then authorize it!" Abby insisted. "Authorize  _us_ -"

"Abby," Tony DiNozzo interjected, stepping between her and Vance. "Director. Are you telling us that it's next to impossible to just go over there and check things out?"

"Not exactly, Mr. DiNozzo-"

"Then how did Gibbs and Ziva get over?" asked Tim McGee.

"I authorized it," Vance told him.

"So how can you authorize Gibbs and ZIva and not the rest of us-" Abby.

"First off, Ms. Sciuto, I do things like that as part of my job," Vance retorted. "Secondly, while they were authorized to cross over on my authority, I'm still going to have to explain it to SecNav and SecDef and, maybe, all the way up to the White House."

"Are things  _that_  tightly regulated?" Tony asked.

"They  _are_ ," Vance replied, turning slightly to address the entire team. "Ms. Sciuto - and all of you - I realize that the...news of Agent Todd's and Director Shepard's existence has greatly affected you emotionally. I can't say it hasn't affected me, because it has, though I only knew Jenny and never met Caitlin."

"So, Director," Tony said. "You're saying we can't just go over, not that we have any official reason to, and that we're staying put."

"I'm afraid so," Vance said to Tony and the rest of the team, "on both counts."

**Earth I**   
**NCIS Medical Examiner's room**

While Gibbs and Ziva looked over Yu's body with Kate and her medical examiner Noah Rooney, Jenny hung back.

She was surprised to see Borin walk in.

"Guess you sent your team back out," Jenny told her.

"We've got a case to investigate, and sitting around's not gonna do a damn thing to help," Borin replied, before glancing at the foursome standing around Yu's body. "You know, Jenny, I always wondered what meeting him would have been like."

"Like meeting a man and meeting someone larger than life," Jenny said as her cell phone rang; she picked it up. "Yeah...alright. We'll meet them upstairs."

"Who is it?" Borin asked.

"Agents Gibbs, David, Todd and Dr. Rooney, the META team is upstairs, on the roof," Jenny announced to the room. "Let's go meet them."


	4. Chapter 4

**Navy Yard, Washington**   
**Rooftop, NCIS Headquarters**

"Jethro, I'm sure you have a  _lot_  of questions," Jenny Shepard said, as Kate, Ziva and Rooney followed them into the elevator.

"You'd think  _right_ , Director," Gibbs replied; Jenny hit the floor for the rooftop, and smiled. _Just like the Gibbs I knew,_  she thought.

"I...have heard many good things about you, Agent Todd," Ziva said, trying to make small talk. "Er...I mean  _her_ , not you - although, I'm certain-"

"I understand, Agent David," replied Kate.

_Jenny's told me a lot about you-her. Too bad her-you didn't survive._

Gibbs looked about him, and noticed the same kill switch his own NCIS's elevator had; he glanced at Ziva, then at the panel, and she noticed the same.  _Might come in handy,_  he decided.

The elevator doors opened out onto the rooftop, showing a spectacular backdrop of D.C. that looked all too familiar. The silent flying aircraft off in the distance, and the enormously huge ship 40 yards to their right, made Gibbs and Ziva remember this wasn't the Navy Yard they knew.

"Big ship," Gibbs said of the ship, which had similar markings to the NCIS vans his team drove to crime scenes, and looked vaguely like-

"The shuttlecrafts from Star Trek," Jenny said. "I know what you're thinking: what on earth  _is_ that thing?"

Gibbs looked at Jenny, expecting her to explain.

"Agent Gibbs," she said. "This is the craft that Agent Todd and her team live and work in, as they travel the country and the globe."

"Officially, we're based here in Washington," Kate explained. "As the director said, we travel around the country. A mobile Major Case Response Team, investigating cases involving metahuman and other similar threats that regular MCRTs and the Office of Special Projects aren't trained to handle."

"Threats that are too powerful for your regular field and undercover agents," Ziva stated; Kate nodded yes.

"Sounds like something Leon started back...where Ziva and I are from," Gibbs continued. "Red, Blue, Green teams, based out of Georgia, never work there, traveling the country. They work out of trucks."

"We have them too - and they were my Leon's idea," Jenny stated. "Think of them as a mixture of a Red/Blue/Green team with what you do."

Jenny nodded to the others to follow her towards the ship, and the ladder appearing out of the hull below the main door.

"Ship here by itself, Kate?" Gibbs.

"The rest of my team's on board, going through their post-flight checks," Kate said. "My team is structured like Borin's and the other MCRTs - actually, off your own - my own - Gibbs's-"

"You used his team as a model," Gibbs interjected; Kate nodded. "He led the team, Tony was his senior agent, then you and McGee were the other agents...there was a Ducky, Palmer was his assistant as the M.E.s, and an Abby to run forensics."

"Yeah," Kate said; she's gotten past melancholy a long time ago when remembering her lost comrades. "I modeled the team after them, in structure. The people are different."

"Really?" Ziva said, looking at Rooney. "Doctor, you remind me a little bit of Ducky, in your demeanor, and your accent. Are you British?"

"English," Rooney said. "American mother; I'm a naturalized American citizen."

"One of the best M.E.s in the world," Kate said.

"Caitlin, you're too kind," Rooney said; Gibbs and Ziva noted genuine modesty in his voice; this man wasn't full of himself.

"I'm going up to get everyone," Kate said. As she ran up the stairs, Ziva turned to Rooney. "Did you know Doctor Mallard?"

"In passing," Rooney said. "He and I attended the same school in Scotland, and that connection apparently got my foot in the door, so to speak, here at NCIS. I joined Caitlin's team when it was activated a few years back."

While Rooney and Ziva made small talk, Gibbs looked at the giant ship.

"We restructured the rooftop five years ago to serve as a landing strip for agency and military craft and VIPs," Jenny explained. "It's not the only way to get into the building, but it's a way for VIPs to avoid road traffic."

"Surprised you don't have your own parking space up here, Jen," Gibbs quipped; Jenny laughed. "As if," she said. "Flying cars are a little too expensive,even at my pay scale."

Gibbs looked around him and saw something else he wouldn't find back home: a floating, 3-D billboard, roughly 400 yards away, alternating between ads for Papa John's and Netflix, streaming holographic videos for $19.99 a month.

"Got a gift for you, Jen," Gibbs said, referring to the package he left on the conference table in her office.

"Got one for you, too," Jenny replied, "...and it isn't  _bourbon_. Figured you'd have plenty of that back home."

Gibbs chuckled.

"We had to scramble, but we figured it was the perfect gift to summarize the...uniqueness of this mission," she told Gibbs.

He thought about Vance's 'gift'; it had been years since McGee wrote that thing.

Gibbs, for his part, had no idea what to bring another Jenny Shepard; he probably would have assigned it to Abby and DiNozzo and went with whatever they suggested.

"I do have questions, Director," Gibbs thought, as he saw Kate standing at the top of the stairs, giving orders to those inside.

"I  _know_  you do, Jethro," Jenny replied, waiting for him to ask.

_What about Kate. How did she survive getting shot. What happened with Ari._

_What happened to his other self, and their team. How did Kate bounce back from it._

_Kyle Boone. McGee's sister. The kid who tried to blow up the school. The Dempsey brothers._

_La Grenouille. Paula. Trent Kort. Hollis._

_The diner._

_How did Jenny survive. Who or what healed her? Was she even sick?_

_Damon Werth. Michelle Lee._

_Rivkin. Eli David._

_Fornell. Diane. Colonel Bell. Agent Macy. Reynosa._

_The Port-to-Port Killer - was Mike involved?_

_Barrett. Cruz. Ryan. Harper Dearing..._

"Jethro?" Jenny said, lightly gripping Gibbs on his forearm.

He noticed Ziva and Rooney looking at him, with some concern. "Gibbs, are you alright?" Ziva asked.

Gibbs looked at his agent - "I'm fine, Ziva," - then at the ship.

"I have a  _question_ , director," he said, looking ahead. "What is that thing, and who's on it?"

"That's two, Jethro," Jenny joked.

"If I may, Agent Gibbs," Rooney said. "The ship is United States Army-issued, a Spencer 201, issued to us when we began taking missions as an offshoot of the OSP. It isn't propelled like an airplane or a helicopter. It, well, hovers...powered by a hybrid hydrogen/petrol engine."

"Helluva ship, Doc," Gibbs said, walking slowly towards the craft; Ziva automatically walked in step with him, while Jenny nodded to Rooney to keep pace.

"It travels up to...what is it? 250 miles an hour - I'm more used to metrics," Rooney said. "Typically we travel up to 150 miles an hour. It is equipped for up to a dozen people, although we currently travel with six...we live and work on board this craft. We have a fully equipped forensics, medical examination facilities, sleeping quarters, showers, a kitchen, state of the art communications equipment, even offices."

"Sounds like what Leon described about the Red Team, only they have to put two tractor-trailers together," Gibbs said. "Imagine you have more room to sleep."

"Our sleeping arrangements are...comfortable, but not luxurious," Rooney said. "We are there to work."

"Mind if Ziva and I have a look  _around_ , director?" Gibbs asked.

Jenny hesitated;  _this wasn't part of the deal, and I don't want to give any version of Gibbs more intel than he needs to know._

"Any 'tour', Jethro, will be authorized by me," she replied. "And don't think about pulling a Yankee White."

"What is a Yankee White?" Ziva asked; Gibbs instantly got Jenny's reference, but couldn't recall if he had ever discussed with Ziva the case that brought his own Kate to his team.

"Got a dead lieutenant or Marine on board?" Gibbs quipped.

"If there is, it's Agent Todd's case," Jenny shot back, in a friendly but firm manner.

"Did I hear something about a  _case_?"

A male, with the demeanor of a Marine, wearing some type of black, skin-tight uniform with NCIS written on his chest, approached the foursome, Kate walking alongside him.

And touching his hand.

"Special Agent Tim Kerry," he said, sticking out his hand to shake Gibbs'. "Senior Agent, META Team...and, Agent Todd's husband."

Gibbs needed a few moments to remember who Kerry was...

"You were poisoned," he said.

"Ten years ago, right before Kate joined your team?" Kerry said; Gibbs nodded. "Oh yeah...I was poisoned...I got over it."

 _The Major Kerry I knew didn't get over his poisoning,_  Gibbs thought.

"We broke Rule 12," Kate said, half-apologetically, before Gibbs could say anything.

"I remember Gibbs giving me a few headslaps when he caught me and Kate in the elevator," the man said, smiling.

Ziva noticed the ring on his finger - and, for the first time, the ring on Kate's.  _How could I have missed that? she thought. I am supposed to be a trained investigator - the sight of Agent Todd herself must have-_

"Ziva? You alright?" Kate said, holding up her hand and wiggling her fingers. "You noticed."

"Noticed...ah, yes. The wedding band," Ziva replied.

"You two married?" Gibbs asked; both nodded, and Kate spoke. "Right before we rejoined NCIS full-time."

"Agent Todd, Agent Kerry, will the rest of your team be coming down?" Jenny asked.

"We hadn't planned on it," Kerry replied. "We're prepping for the Gotham mission, here to pick up Kate and Rooney."

"Well, if you had a little bit of time to spare for a quick tour for Agents Gibbs and David - and a quick meet and greet on board - I'm sure our guests would greatly appreciate it...as would I," Jenny responded.

Kerry whispered in Kate's ear: 'do we  _really_  have time for this?'

Kate lightly elbowed her husband, and senior agent, in his stomach. That brought back yet another memory to Gibbs's mind - only his Kate's elbows to DiNozzo weren't quite as playful.

"We'd  _love_  to," Kate said. "Please. Follow us inside."

**Third floor, bullpen**

Agent Dom Vail came through on identifying the speedboat used in the Yu shooting.

"It was bought Tuesday afternoon from a business in Maryland," he said. "With cash. The owner says the buyer was a middle-aged man, bald, slender. I asked him for security camera footage; the guy swears it was taped, but he 'lost' the footage from the time of the purchase. I had it sent here so we can review it for ourselves, and I also brought him in so we can at least do a sketch on the buyer."

"Good thinking," Borin said. "Sound suspicious to you, Dom? Second instance of lost footage on this thing?"

"Well yeah," he answered. "No footage from Metro cameras near where the guy was killed, and no footage of the buyer."

"Dom, get the sketch of the buyer from the guy, then let him go."

Just then, Agents Brent Langer and E.J. Barrett walked off the elevator with a middle-aged, plump woman, and introduced her to Borin.

"Charlene," E.J. said, "was out walking her dog this morning when she saw two guys abandon the boat and drive away."

"They looked suspicious," Charlene said, gesturing wildly. "They got off that boat, ran away, and got in an SUV and drove away. They looked like they were  _criminals_. I took their pictures, _yes I did!_  And I talked with a  _cop_ , but he didn't want to  _hear_  me-"

"How'd you find her, E.J." Borin asked.

"Metro called us," she said. "The officer Charlene first spoke with talked with his captain after word leaked to Metro about the Yu shooting. Metro went back, talked with her again, and referred her to us."

Charlene took her cell phone - "I snapped their pictures,  _yes I did,_  right here on my phone, got them  _clear_  as  _day_ " - and handed it to Borin.

"Dom, scan these photos, and run a facial recognition," Borin said. "E.J. would you escort Charlene to the waiting area?"

As Charlene waited, Vail scanned the photos off her phone and ran them against every database NCIS had access to.

It took seconds to get a match on the first man: the suspected shooter, Tommy Monaghan. It took five minutes for a match on the second man.

The match wasn't what anyone expected.

" _CIA_?" Borin asked aloud.


	5. Chapter 5

**NCIS Headquarters**

**MCRT Bullpen**

"Trent Allan Kort," repeated Dom Vail off his virtual monitor. "CIA agent, in good standing...database doesn't say any more than that."

"I'll contact Langley," said Jenny - referring to the headquarters of the CIA - as she walked out of the bullpen towards the stairs, raising her voice to finish her end of the conversation. "And I'll contact our friends in the FBI, to see if they can have someone keep eyes on Monaghan in Gotham before our people get there."

**NCIS HQ rooftop**

**META team's shuttlecraft**

Gibbs had few words as Kate gave he and Ziva a quick tour of her team's vehicle, which combined a bullpen, forensics lab, medical facilities, autopsy and interrogation rooms, sleeping and recreational quarters and bath facilities.

"If you needed to go on the road, this is a good ship to work out of," he said.

"It's a damn good ship," said Marcus Stewart, who stepped out of his pilot's seat to use the head. "The very best. She'll get you where you need to go and take good care of you."

"Are you an engineer?" Ziva asked.

"That's done by computer," Kate replied. "We call our version of tech support when there's a problem..."

Kate stopped, as if that was a satisfactory answer. Gibbs looked at her as if it wasn't.

"...but we should consider an engineer," she quickly added. "Like Mr. Scott. Star Trek."

"Didn't know you were a Trekkie, hon," Tim Kerry quipped, from his co-pilot's seat.

"What I am,  _HON_ ," Kate shot back, pleasantly, "is ready to get on the  _road_...Gibbs, Ziva. We should be there and back. Will you be here long?"

"I'm not sure, Kate," Gibbs said. "Maybe. Maybe not."

Kate hesitated cutting Gibbs and Ziva's tour short just for a moment.

"I'm asking because we have a mission we need to leave for," she said. "Now. My plan is to come back here and continue our visit-"

"You've got a case, Agent Todd," Gibbs said. "That takes precedence."

"Of course."

"No reason, though, we couldn't talk when it's done," he added. "I'd have to clear it with Vance, and with Jen, but I think I'm not the only one who's gonna want to talk to you."

Kate and Gibbs shared a look, and a million things went through Agent Todd's head.

_Tony? Abby? McGee? Ducky?_

"Agent David and I should be leaving," Gibbs said, as Kate's team exchanged farewells and handshakes with their two visitors; Katie - their forensics person, wearing a T-shirt with a big smiley face - was the exception; she gave both hugs.

So did Kate.

Gibbs and Ziva walked down the stairs, and saw Kate linger as the stairs retreated into the ship and the door shut behind them; the ship lifted 40 feet above the rooftop, then flew north by northeast, 80 miles an hour, and disappeared into the distance.

"Gibbs?" Ziva said. "Have you just made a promise you may not be able to keep?"

"I'm damn well gonna try, Ziver," he replied, as agent Dorneget stepped out of the rooftop elevator to escort them downstairs. "And if I have any say, we're gonna be here awhile."

**Director Shepard's office**

Jenny decided to put Gibbs and Ziva to work, asking them about their experiences with their own world's Trent Kort.

Ziva followed Gibbs' lead, which was to say as little about Kort's involvement in the La Grenouille debacle as possible.

Jenny had her own questions about how the 'La Grenouille debacle' was resolved in the other world, but her intent at the moment was to get some additional insight into Kort's character.

"Looks like he's the same guy in both places, Jen," said Gibbs. "Have an idea of how you're gonna handle him?"

"Carefully," she replied. "CIA is not supposed to conduct operations on American soil, the video clearly shows him on the scene. I definitely want to know about that and why."

"He is a secondary participant anyway," Ziva added. "The real person of interest is this Monaghan." Ziva held up the file on Monaghan she'd read through while Gibbs discussed his experiences with his own Trent Kort. "He appears to present a dangerous challenge - will your people be able to apprehend him."

Jenny looked Ziva square in the eye. "They are the best, the elite of our agency," she told her. "As well trained as the Los Angeles team, better because they're superpowered and they have experience against metahuman threats. They will be fine."

"Kate's bringing him back," Gibbs mentioned.

"For questioning," Jenny replied. "I changed my mind - they may want to interrogate him while they're there, but they're bringing him back here so I can interrogate him myself...Jethro, there's a long list of people in the intelligence community who want first crack at this guy. I'm getting it."

Gibbs and Ziva exchanged a brief look.

"Just like old times?" Jenny interjected, anticipating their thoughts.

"Only if you let me in on the case," Gibbs replied.

**Gotham City**

**ESPN Cafe, a block west of WayneTech Griffins Park**

Tommy Monaghan nursed a Guinness stout, glad that the sports bar was mostly empty, and that only one person recognized him.

Griffins Park - opened just this year - was in a nicer part of the city, rezoned for young, urban professionals. It wasn't his kind of place, and these weren't his people.

The beer was alright, though.

"Why don't you get yourself a bloody drink, mate?" he said to the man sitting across from him at the corner table.

"I got one here," said the mustached man, wearing dark sunglasses and a cheap suit.

"You can handle a helluva lot more than club soda - 'Matches'," Monaghan said to the man, who identified himself to the waitress as "Mr. Malone". "Wonder what the rich and famous are doing right now - and I ain't talkin' about them bloody baseball players."

Monaghan took a drink of his lager.

"I'm thinking of that billionaire guy, Bruce Wayne," Monaghan continued, with a wink.

"I'm sure he's taking care of business," said 'Matches Malone'. "Like you're going to."

"We secure here?" Monaghan said; Malone - aka Bruce Wayne, aka The Batman - nodded.

"You think I did it? You think I shot that guy?"

Matches looked him in the eye. "It wouldn't be...beneath you. To take that job."

"Look mate, we don't see eye to eye on a lot," Monaghan replied. "I know you and Big Blue and the rest of the costumes want me behind bars, and you're pissed I'm out because of the feds."

The waitress - a tall, athletic, pale woman, red haired, with a bob haircut, and a nametag that said Kate - brought over another stout and club soda.

"Thank you kindly, lassie," Monaghan said with a smile. "You know, I'm free tonight, I'd like to have a drink with you-"

"You're not my type," she said, politely.

"You into mustaches? Older guys?" Monaghan nodded towards 'Matches'.

"I'm not into  _men_."

"I can  _work_  with that," Monaghan yelled out, as waitress Kate walked back to the bar.

" _Your_  concern," 'Matches'/Batman said to Monaghan, "is your meeting with NCIS which, by my watch, is in 40 minutes."

"What am I gonna tell them?" Monaghan complained. "'I was here in Gotham, said no to Del Toro who wanted to hire me to shoot up the Callahans, went to the loo because I ate a bad burrito, went to see a movie, stopped off at this sports bar and talked to the Bat who was dressed like someone out of a Tarantino movie?'"

" _You're_  going to tell me where you were and what you did during that time," Matches/Batman replied, "and you're gonna tell NCIS the same thing."

**Washington**

**Navy Yard, NCIS**

**Outside Director Shepard's office**

The Phantom Stranger, as was his custom, appeared abruptly, out of nowhere, as he wished.

And, as his custom, he would make his intentions known before following up on them.

He would hide for now, and when the time was right, transport Leroy Jethro Gibbs and Ziva David directly to Gotham - with or without their, NCIS's, or anyone else's consent.

**Bludhaven, New Troy**

A very timid, scared man loaded up on steroids wet himself at the sight of half a dozen police cars speeding through an intersection.

He had already soiled himself speaking to his handler, standing next to him at the bus stop.

"Thomas," said the White Martian Mankiller, disguised as an 18-year-old female hooker. "You look just like him."

"I-I-I-I...I-I-I"

"You what?" the Mankiller said. "You want something, Tommy?"

"I wanna go home," Thomas whined. "I wanna go home. See mommy."

"Your mother hates your guts," the alien growled. "You disgusting filth. How Wayne tolerates you, I have no idea. But you do look like Monaghan and you shoot like him - when you're drugged up and you have me guiding you."

Thomas Monaghan. Resident. Earth 3. Here on Syndicate business. Scared out of his mind, and wanting to see his mommy.

He won't see her tonight, for certain.

"Now," the Martian said. "I'm going to follow you onto the next bus, and you'll engage in some target practice, before we travel to Gotham for the next stage of our mission."

Across the street, perhaps unknown to the alien, someone had eyes on them both.

"Nightwing reporting," said a man, dressed in an overcoat. "Eyes on the suspect. Am about to engage."

Nightwing jaywalked across the street as a Bludhaven Transit bus stopped.

Tommy and the alien got on, followed by Nightwing in his overcoat.

Nightwing saw the gun, and the smile on the hooker's face.

TBC...


End file.
